If I gambled, I’d put 5 bucks on the Devils for both the conference and the Cup. I don’t think that they do it, but if they keep playing the way they have been, they have a definite shot AND look at that return on my investment!

I still like how it jumps in the West from the BJs to the Oilers by a huge amount. Now is “winning” the East mean in the playoffs or having the best regular season record? I assume since the first set of odds are for winning the Cup that it’s for winning the East in the playoffs, but before you bet your $5 Doodie I’d clarify what “winning”means.

Asking gabby to grind is like asking Prust to become a sniper. Needs to establish lines and stick with them.

When the coach starts to lose his 2 most talented players, the focus comes back to coach. There is a mindset of grind hockey which is full of heart and hustle but will not get you beyond a 6 seed and maybe a PO round win. Pp futility is about coaching as well.

Rangers were winning with grit, blocking shots and cycling low in first half of season. Now every team will buckle down and talent disparity will surface.

Let’s cut a deal – kings looking for sniper (gabby), Avs looking for veteran leadership (dru) and stay at home D (girardi). This team is about 2012-13 not this year so let’s get some more assets for a 4-5 year run.

Gaborik will be as valuable for our run in 2012-2013 as anyone else, if not more. We don’t have anyone in our system with his scoring ability. And signing another FA instead isn’t a sure thing, who is going to be available? One “off” season doesn’t mean he is done.

Straight up agree with ilb. Gaby had a great season last year. Average season this year (even though he looks like he’s not playing well and most of his goals came in a few games). He is part of the team and if the grinders can look for a way to fit him in the way he wants to play, we could really have a nice combo.

The Rangers are one of the few teams that can budget in Gaborik’s salary over the next couple of years and keep together a large portion of the team. If he was a rental or maybe 1 more year left on his deal then teams could think about going for him.

The Kings have the budget this year, but they will have to give Doughty an extension that will cost them at least a $5M cap hit and give another deal to Simmonds. They have a lot of UFAs after this year and while they could acquire Gaborik, but then they’d probably have spent $12M-$13M in cap space on 3 players while needing another 6 or 7 players to fill out a roster with about $7M in space to use.

Also who are you getting for Gaborik? I’ll partially answer my own question and bring up Schenn. Schenn is one of the highest regarded prospects in the game. When guys like Kovalchuk and Hossa got traded they didn’t net prospects like Schenn. And none of their cornerstone players like Brown, Kopitar, Doughty or Johnson are getting moved.

If they can get Kreider under contract he will probably be the next prospect to make the team. I’ve heard mixed reports on Thomas. Yes he can score in juniors, but the next test should be the AHL unless he absolutely blows people away in camp either next year or in 2 years.

Unless they let both Gilroy and Eminger leave without replacing either one, McIlrath is probably going to have to wait a little while to get a good crack at making the team given how strong the Rangers are on D for the next couple of seasons.

Doodie- actually NMC protects the player from being waived but not from being bought out. The way it’s done is the club has to give the player an option to accept or decline being placed on waivers. Either way, he can be bought out after. CBA, section 11.8(b)

ilb has a point Miami. You might want to get a really nice Miami style cocktail. Something blue that doesn’t give you alcohol breath in the morning. Nothing cures sadness like alcohol. And nothing cures the depression that follows binge drinking like MORE alcohol.

I really don’t think the team is looking to add a center more than it is to add a defenseman to play PP QB. They actually scouted Sheldon Souray. The team’s biggest weakness is it’s complete inability to score with the man advantage. Even strength, we’ve actually been pretty good. We just really need the PP to kick in a goal more often, not only for the goals themselves, but because teams will not be able to play as aggressively at even strength if they weren’t so confident that they could kill any penalties that they may take.

BTW, I see Matt Cooke was up to his usual ridiculously nasty antics last night. Shame on the NHL in general for not tossing this nob out of the game; shame on the NHLPA for empowering him (and guys like him) by always being silent; and shame on Pittsburgh for having this idiot on their team.

And speaking of which, how about Sidney Crosby speak up against this a-hole??

Rangers gave P.A. his chance,, he never capitalized besides a couple shootout goals.. and if ur goin to complain about not holding on to P.A., then u cant complain about how the team is going about their business right now

CT,
Cooke Avery, and Carcillo, are 3 of the reasons the NHL needs to get rid of the instigater rule.
I remember a player on Washington name Kaminsky, who was the original instigater, and Graves grabbed him and beat the stuffing out of him took his 5 minutes and the message was sent.

Bull Dog – refs have discretion to call instigator and throw a roughing minor at the punk. Avery will drop his gloves – the others are just total wusses who will play dirty, but not back it up. Helmets with Visors can create a more painful scenario for the victor. Bring back “knucks’ Nilan

So… “letting Parenteau get away” just got brought up. Just like yesterday Taylor Hall got praised for being so great. He’s been solid and his rookie year stats are
53 17 16 33 Meanwhile- Stepan is talked about just about every day as “not going to be ready or not the right choice for first line center in the near future. Um his rookie year stats are 56 15 16 31. And he’s not a star but he too has been solid..I mean Really?! The kid hasn’t done anything but play top line minutes and learn from mistakes all year and it just gets down played. “when are we getting Brad Richards?!?!” Stay the course, right?

Also as for scouting Florida- it’s most likely McCabe. He’s going to get moved and they were interested when Toronto had him on the block a few seasons ago. He’s a temporary solution who A- can teach the likes of Del Zotto a few things about being ‘the man’ and B- can help them if they get to the playoffs this year because let’s face it. Special teams make or break you in the playoffs.

I’m not going to sift through 800 posts to find out about this but I just want to make sure everyone heard the report that the Rangers scouts were unsatisfied/concerned about Souray’s foot speed and that fire has been put out for now? thus also making McCabe a likely candidate to get scouted..

Those Fargin Devils will wind up making the playoffs btw. just wait and see. I said back in October/November when they were miserable that they’ll do something to right the ship mid season and win like 80% of their remaining games to make it. It’s typical Devils voo doo. I hate it. In fact, they’ll probably make it into 6th place, we’ll go on a tear to place 3rd and they’ll beat us in 5 in the first round.

oh doodie I know man. you know your stuff. I meant no offense in regards to the Parenteau comment it just seemed like to a good time to finally speak up. I’ve been biting my tongue for days now about Stepan.

Bulldog-Kaminsky hit Leetch up high and Graves beat the cooke out of him. And I agree with the instigator rule totally. Having said that, absent instigator rule didn’t prevent Bryan Marchment from ruining a few careers.

First- he’s a 36 year old Dman who just got off of IR for a broken Jaw. Sather has been able to steal guys with a lot more worth than that before. What could he possible cost them as compared to the likes of someone who’s going to stick around? or even a Souray?

I think Parenteau showed promise outside of the shootout goals. You have to consider he wasn’t exactly getting a ton of ice time and wasn’t playing with the greatest players either. But we kept guys like Christensen and Prospal’s knee surgery and brought in Fedotenko and Prospal when we had a guy that we could have kept for very little money.

It’s not the end of the world, just saying that we missed one there. He’s not going to become the next Weight/Amonte/Savard, but I was just pointing out how we may have backed the wrong horse

Not the PAP CRAP please, he had his shot and didn’t get it done (just goes to show just because a guy can not make it on certain teams he may work out well for others) and this team misses feds a lot I think!

Again, PAP didn’t really get that much of a chance here. Christensen and Frolov both immediately got Gaborik, but I can’t remember PAP getting a similar opportunity. Now he’s playing with Tavares and Moulson and putting up some points.

I’m just saying it wouldn’t have cost the team anything to keep him in the fold.

so let me get this correct, if a guy like avery (or even drury) doesn’t get a chance to consistently play with gabby (or on the PP) and don’t have very good point production they just suck and should be jettisoned by any means necessary, but PAP got screwd??

DISCLAIMER..Doodie, I am not at all trying to get in a rudy poo with you, your last post just made me think about this and I am just throwing this post out there for general consumption.

Well again, Stepan is pacing Hall in stats this year and that’s the first overall pick and the ‘face’ of the Oilers franchise. We could have done worse.

Doodie- we tend to back the wrong horse more times than not. but I think Feds has done a nice job for us this season. PAP had his chances and the Rangers weren’t happy with his skating or his production here. He’s done well with the Isles but who knows how he would have worked/been used under Tortarella?

As for McCabe- do you think he’d cost more than the likes of anyone else they’d be able to bring in here at the deadline that could actually help? Sather hasn’t exactly given in to high demands in the trade world over the last several years. If he can make it work then he’s a good option. Better than Souray at least.

James, I like Avery but the way he’s been playing all season, I doubt he would have even 10 goals playing top 6 minutes. Did you see how many opportunities he missed in the Wings game alone? And that’s been going on all year every time he gets to play a lot of minutes in a game. He definitely creates chances, but he can’t seem to finish.

I love how if Avery can’t finish, even though he is not expected to be a goalscorer, and does plenty of other things to help the team including working the boards behind the net, he is a bum. But if the exalted gaborik, who is paid for and expected to be a goalscorer, can’t finish, or even create chances, well then he is just having a tough stretch,or he needs a setup man, or he will bounce back, or he will yada yada. It really is sickening how some will give him a free pass, and he probably would not score on it anyway. No, they did not even make the playoffs when he was scoring his career best, so what damn good is he when he is playing crappy like he is this year.

He had that one playoff year, or specifically playoff game where he did well. He can be a useful 2nd line player but that’s about it. Maybe Beauchemin going back to where he had his greatest success will help.

Beauchemin is only -4 and plays with two of the most overrated d-men in the league (Komisarek and mostly Phaneuf). It’s incredible he isn’t -44. His other stats are pretty much the same as his career averages. He’ll be much better off playing with Cam Fowler though.

2) Several NHL teams admit to being in the market for an impact forward…a top six player with an offensive flare.

For obvious reasons, these players are seldom available in-season and traditionally, trades including high-end forwards require weeks of negotiating to work out all of the elements.

Among the big names potentially available – New York’s Marian Gaborik might draw some interest in the days leading up to the deadline.

The Rangers aren’t shopping Gaborik, who has struggled this season with just 16 goals in 42 games after scoring 42 last year, but word around the league is Rangers GM Glen Sather is willing to listen to offers.

Gaborik agreed to a five-year contract with the Rangers last July and earns $7.5 million per year.

Clearing Gaborik’s salary would go a long way in creating flexibility this summer when New York faces a wave of key restricted free agents including Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Brian Boyle and Matt Gilroy.

The Rangers will also have to invent cap space if signing Brad Richards as an unrestricted free agent this summer is a priority.

Dreger needs to get his facts together. They are not shopping him, but Sather would listen? He went inside his head. Or what does that even mean? And he needs to look carefully into the Rangers cap situation before making such a statement- the Rangers do not need Gaborik’s salary to sign their RFAs. And if he is traded to make a room to sign Richards, who is Richards going to pass to? Oh, I forgot, Hank has 4 assists.

People doubted Drury’s injury because it came at the exact moment that EC was ready to come back. I guess it is real. :) I like how they were talking on Versus on Monday about how losing Drury might affect the Rangers, not having his leadership, as if they forgot that he hadn’t been playing for most of the season anyway.

CTB – It’s pretty obvious that Frolov will be gone, Prospal is probably too old for them unless he shows something spectacular. Eminger could be back for a cheap price if he is willing to take it to be the veteran/seventh defenseman, since I’m guessing he’s good in the locker room if he hasn’t complained about being out of games. Fedotenko should come back if there’s room, but he wouldn’t be a great loss; he is a Torts guy though. You really think Sauer will get that much so soon with low offensive numbers? He will get 800K at most, probably more around 700K.

With the removal of the UFAs (now including Todd White) my roster would be:

Centers
Stepan/Anisimov/Boyle/Christensen/Drury

LW
Dubinsky/Wolski/Prust/Boogaard (maybe retired)

RW
Gaborik/Callahan/Zuccarello/Prust

D
Staal/Girardi/Sauer/Del Zotto/McDonagh/Gilroy

G
Lundqvist/Biron

Boogaard retiring probably doesn’t alter the roster construction that much. Even absent his cap hit it doesn’t allow them to do too much. Drury getting bought out opens up some more space, but the big payoff would be if he retired.

Right it’s not completely covered but like over 80% of it is. My roster (the proposed RFA contracts plus whomever is coming back (post at 3:44) comes in with a cap hit of $57.875M with Boogaard included. A 3% rise in the salary cap gets it up to $61.18M. There would still need to be a 7th D, but that could probably be covered if Boogaard retires. Or if they use a guy from the Whale that would cost under $1.0M. Either way, the Rangers shouldn’t have any problems re-signing their RFAs regardless of whether Gaborik gets traded or Drury is bought out/retired.

Well, If Drury is injured, you hope he comes back and doesn’t embarass himself. . .again. Maybe he comes back and plays better. But I see a player that is old and wore out. He has hardly played, and he is injured gain?

It would be hilarious if the Rangers got rid of Gaborik and picked up Brad Richards. Keeping the trend going. They got Jagr. Then they said they got Gomez to pass to Jagr, but got rid of Jagr. Then they got rid of Gomez, but picked up Gaborik.

I watched part of the game Leafs and Islanders, and I gotta tell ya…as a team, their passing game is spuerior to Rangers.

I also paid close attention to Kaberle..he covered his area of responsibility well enough and set up one goal that I saw, but nothing that most of the Ranger D doesn’t do regularly. I do not see where Rangers need him…especially for what he would cost in both players and dough. He may have scored one too, but I watched hit or miss not full time

Drury will not retire. Forget it. If he gets bought out, he will sign on somewhere as a cheap veteran. No way does “captain clutch,” wins every way he goes (except everywhere he’s been other than Colorado), little league world series, Mr. Intangibles find himself without a job next year, even in a diminished capacity.

so now the Rangers should be sellers, and they should trade a 6 ft 7 center who is just coming into his own. what is you would like to get for the guys you are selling? 2nd round draft picks? stock pile more draft picks so the Rangers could contend in 2020? the Rangers are close right now to being contenders, maybe not this season, but they are close. figure 1 to 3 players away. buying (smartly) is the way to go right now. find that top center, and tough Dman. don’t subtract from what they have now. you don’t think Stepan, and the other young players would benefit from a round in the playoffs? of course they would, and the Rangers should do what it takes to make the playoffs, even if that means doing nothing at the deadline.

Doodie, I disagree. I think this injury and the surgury makes Drury retiring in the summer a very likely scenario. There is no guarantee he can make it back from knee surgury at such an age. Prospal really did defy the odds coming back this season.